BleedGopher
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Per Randy:
As the Gophers skated off the ice at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Sunday night, the hooting and hollering from Notre Dame’s fan contingent served as a parting dose of reality.
A Minnesota team that earned a share of the Big Ten’s regular-season title just had been escorted out of the conference playoffs in a Game 3 quarterfinal loss to the last-place Fighting Irish.
Suddenly, all kinds of questions regarding the Gophers moved to the forefront. Why has the scoring dried up? What’s wrong with the goaltending? And first and foremost: What does this mean for their hopes of winning the NCAA tournament?
Coach Bob Motzko acknowledged the mistakes the Gophers made in losing twice to Notre Dame. And he knows that the margin of error is gone now — everything left is single-elimination play in the NCAA tournament. However, he wasn’t panicking.
“The sky’s not falling. It [stinks] right now, I can tell you that,” Motzko said. “But we’re going to play again.”
It’s just going to be a while — either March 27 or 28 in an NCAA regional at a site that will be announced March 23.
The route that the Gophers (25-10-4) must take in their attempt to win their first national championship since 2003 — rebounding from a first-round ouster in their conference tournament — isn’t a well-worn path.
Since the NCAA tournament expanded to a 16-team format in 2003, only two eventual champions — Denver in 2004 and Providence in 2015 — failed to advance out of the first round of their conference tournament.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
As the Gophers skated off the ice at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Sunday night, the hooting and hollering from Notre Dame’s fan contingent served as a parting dose of reality.
A Minnesota team that earned a share of the Big Ten’s regular-season title just had been escorted out of the conference playoffs in a Game 3 quarterfinal loss to the last-place Fighting Irish.
Suddenly, all kinds of questions regarding the Gophers moved to the forefront. Why has the scoring dried up? What’s wrong with the goaltending? And first and foremost: What does this mean for their hopes of winning the NCAA tournament?
Coach Bob Motzko acknowledged the mistakes the Gophers made in losing twice to Notre Dame. And he knows that the margin of error is gone now — everything left is single-elimination play in the NCAA tournament. However, he wasn’t panicking.
“The sky’s not falling. It [stinks] right now, I can tell you that,” Motzko said. “But we’re going to play again.”
It’s just going to be a while — either March 27 or 28 in an NCAA regional at a site that will be announced March 23.
The route that the Gophers (25-10-4) must take in their attempt to win their first national championship since 2003 — rebounding from a first-round ouster in their conference tournament — isn’t a well-worn path.
Since the NCAA tournament expanded to a 16-team format in 2003, only two eventual champions — Denver in 2004 and Providence in 2015 — failed to advance out of the first round of their conference tournament.
College Hockey Insider: Gophers will try to buck trend of teams ousted early in conference tournaments
Over the past 21 years, only two eventual NCAA champions failed to advance out of the first round of their conference tournament.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!